Our Lady of Czestochowa

Pope Leo XIV addresses pilgrims during his general audience on July 30, 2025, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 4, 2025 / 18:02 pm (CNA).

In a new gesture of closeness to the victims of irregular migration, Pope Leo XIV expressed his “profound sorrow” for the sinking of a boat off the coast of Yemen in which at least 76 migrants on their way to Saudi Arabia died. Most of the passengers were Ethiopian nationals.

In a telegram signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the pontiff entrusted “the many migrants who have lost their lives to the loving mercy of Almighty God.”

In the message, addressed to the apostolic nuncio in Yemen, Archbishop Christophe Zakhia El-Kassis, the pope also invoked “divine strength, consolation, and hope for the survivors, emergency workers, and all those affected by this tragedy.”

The tragedy occurred on the dangerous route through the Gulf of Aden, also known as “the route of death.” According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), this route is one of the deadliest crossings in the world, used by traffickers to transport migrants to Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, in search of job opportunities.

Despite the extreme conditions and the armed conflict that has ravaged Yemen — the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula — for more than a decade, thousands of people, especially from Ethiopia and Somalia, continue to risk their lives along this route. The IOM estimates that 157 people were traveling on the boat that sank on Aug. 3, of whom 76 were found dead, 32 survived, and dozens remain missing.

In 2024 alone, the IOM recorded at least 558 deaths on the route between Djibouti in East Africa and Yemen. However, many tragedies go unreported due to a lack of control and monitoring in conflict zones. In addition to shipwrecks, migrants face exploitation, sexual violence, forced labor, and torture, often at the hands of criminal networks.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Damage after the Aug. 4, 2020, Beirut explosion. / Credit: Mehr News Agency, CC BY SA 4.0

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 4, 2025 / 17:31 pm (CNA).

With a silent march, moving testimonies, and the symbolic planting of 75 trees in honor of the victims, Lebanon commemorated on Aug. 4 the fifth anniversary of the devastating explosion that rocked Beirut’s port in 2020, leaving 245 dead and 6,000 injured.

A day marked by tears, prayer, and remembrance of all those killed and injured also became a cry of hope in the midst of a prolonged crisis.

Pope Leo XIV extended his closeness to the Lebanese people through a message — as is customary in such cases — signed by Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. In the text, the pontiff said that “Christ’s tears are joined with our own in the face of the loss and suffering of our loved ones.”

The pope thus wished to express “his compassion for all those whose hearts are wounded or who have lost everything due to this catastrophe.”

“Beloved and suffering Lebanon remains at the center of our prayers,” he said in the message read on Sunday evening, Aug. 3, at the vigil held in Beirut and presided over by the apostolic nuncio to Lebanon, Archbishop Paolo Borgia, according to Vatican News.

Speaking to Vatican News, the nuncio described it as a “deeply moving” moment.

The commemoration took place in Karantina in the square in front of Our Lady of Deliverance Church, one of the hardest-hit areas near the port, where the greatest number of rescue operations were concentrated in the hours following the explosion.

“There was a moment of prayer during which the families of victims and the injured came together. There were also some testimonies, followed by a silent march to a garden along the road to the port, where in recent days 75 trees bearing the names of victims were planted. More will be planted in the future,” Borgia explained. Furthermore, Lebanese Minister of Culture Ghassan Salamé announced that the silo that exploded on Aug. 4, 2020, has now been listed as a historical monument of the country.

“The wounds from that tragic explosion still run deep,” the apostolic nuncio noted. “Six thousand 500 people were treated in Beirut’s hospitals, the chaos, the dead on the streets — it’s all still vivid in the memory of the Lebanese people.”

During the interview, Borgia recalled the conversation Pope Francis had with the victims’ families last year. During that meeting, held at the Vatican, the pontiff called for justice and truth for the families who have been demanding it for years. On that occasion, the Holy Father stated that it was a “complicated and thorny” issue.

According to the apostolic nuncio, “there are conflicting interests at play, but truth and justice must prevail above all else.”

“Today, however, there’s a bit more hope. Some steps are being taken in the investigation phase,” the nuncio stated. In any case, the investigation is in its preliminary phase, and the deadly explosion has “no clear cause or explanation.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Bishop Robert Barron delivers the keynote address at the Jubilee of Youth’s National U.S. Pilgrim Gathering on July 30, 2025, at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

CNA Staff, Aug 4, 2025 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

Word on Fire announced Monday that a new documentary by Bishop Robert Barron is underway that will showcase the beauty of Catholic cathedrals and how they guide the faithful to the divine. 

In the announcement, Barron — who also serves as bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota — explained that the inspiration for the documentary came after the tragic fire that destroyed part of the historic Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. 

In April 2019, Notre Dame’s iconic roof and spire were engulfed by a fire, the causes of which have yet to be determined. Its main structure was saved, along with many of its priceless contents, but the restoration project was monumental, amounting to almost 700 million euros ($740 million). The historic cathedral reopened on Dec. 7, 2024.   

Barron recalled that the response from people all around the world was “intriguing” to him and he “had a sense that people knew the fire was threatening to destroy something of great spiritual value — even if they were not faithful themselves.”

After this, Barron wrote a script for a documentary that explored the idea of the spirituality of cathedrals and their ability to draw in even those who do not believe in God or practice any faith.

The documentary will take viewers to the French cathedrals of Amiens, Chartres, Notre-Dame, Reims, and Saint-Denis to explore these medieval cathedrals more in depth. It will combine history, theology, art, and Scripture to show the significance of cathedrals and answer the question: What is it about the beauty of a cathedral that is so transcendent?

Barron said he believes the documentary will have “great evangelical value.”

“My hope is that this film can have a similar impact by drawing people into the beauty of our faith through the intrigue of these impressive buildings,” he said.

Barron has released several documentaries over the years including the “Catholicism” series, which took viewers to 50 locations throughout 15 countries to reveal the fullness of the Catholic faith, and the “Pivotal Players” series, which dove into the lives of 12 of the most influential Catholic figures in history.

A release date for the new documentary has not been announced.

Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney told a packed basilica of young jubilee pilgrims in Rome on Aug. 4, 2025, that holy relics are “not just a quirky Catholic thing — they are a quirky God thing.” / Credit: Ivanka Ranic/Archdiocese of Sydney

Vatican City, Aug 4, 2025 / 16:29 pm (CNA).

Standing before the casket containing the incorrupt body of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and the tomb of St. Catherine of Siena in Rome, Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney told a packed basilica of young jubilee pilgrims that holy relics are “not just a quirky Catholic thing — they are a quirky God thing.”

The Australian Dominican archbishop delivered the homily at the closing Mass of the weeklong public veneration of Frassati’s body during the Jubilee of Youth, a celebration that drew 1 million Catholic young people to the Eternal City.

“It’s a quirky thing, that Catholics so honor their dead and the remains of the dead,” Fisher said. “I was asked once by a radio host, ‘What’s this thing with Catholics and bones?’ I explained that the relics of saints are sacramentals: Sites where God imparts graces of healing and strength through the intercession of the faithful ones whose relics they are.”

“Through ‘this Catholic thing with bones,’” he added, “we honor the person who was and look forward to the person who will be again — but now purified, restored, glorified.” 

“In reverencing the remains of our loved ones and especially the saints, we proclaim our faith in the holy Catholic Church and the communion of saints, but also in the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting!” 

The Mass in the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva on Aug. 4 had standing room only, as young pilgrims crowded in for a chance to pray before the incorrupt body of Frassati, a 20th-century Italian layman whose body was found intact 60 years after his death, which is considered a miracle. 

“When Pier Giorgio’s mortal remains were transferred from Pollone cemetery to Turin Cathedral, they were found to be incorrupt after 60 years,” Fisher explained. “In miraculously preserving his body for so long, God was saying something powerful about the purity of this incorruptible man, about the significance of life in the flesh, and about the promise of resurrection to us all.”

Following the Mass, Dominican friars carried Frassati’s casket in a solemn procession down the basilica’s central aisle. Outside, pilgrims lined the steps, waving as the vehicle carrying Frassati’s body departed for the eight-hour drive back to Turin, where his tomb is located in the city’s cathedral.

Evangeline Jenan, 16, from Arizona, was one of the few who were able to reach out and touch the casket after it was processed outside of the basilica.

“Being able to touch his casket is just an absolutely powerful experience,” she told CNA.

“His love for God is just so inspiring and amazing to me. And I want to be like him.”

Fisher recalled how Frassati’s body was brought to Sydney for World Youth Day in 2008. “To offer Mass again beside his casket is a real privilege,” he said, welcoming Frassati’s niece, Wanda Gawronska, who has played a vital role in sharing her uncle’s story with the world.

The liturgy coincided with the feast of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests, and Fisher reminded the youth that sainthood comes in many forms.  

“Male and female, tall and short, young and old, clerical and lay, alive or dead at the moment: Sainthood is not one-size-fits-all,” he said.

Frassati, who died at age 24 in 1925, has long inspired young Catholics with his deep piety, charity for the poor, and love of the outdoors. He famously said: “To live without faith is not living, but merely existing.”

Fisher described Frassati as someone who showed that “faith is fun.”

“Mountain climbing or skiing, study or socializing — all could be apostolate,” he said.

Young pilgrims in attendance said the encounter with Frassati’s relics and Fisher’s message left a deep impression.

Rebecca Calabrese, 27, from Sydney, traveled with 64 young Australians for the jubilee. “It really inspires a lot of young people who are searching for their vocation and looking for a deeper relationship with Christ,” she said, “to see someone so ordinary but also extraordinary… who lived out his faith with such zeal and joy and passion in the normal, everyday aspects of life.”

For Dylan Staub, 21, of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the jubilee was a life-changing experience. “I’ve never even been out of the country before,” he said. “It’s just so many people, so many people filled with grace and on fire with their faith.” 

He added that the jubilee really makes one reflect on how “you’re here for a purpose, and you were created and chosen by God and loved by God.” 

In his final exhortation, Fisher urged the youth to ask Frassati’s intercession for courage and clarity in their vocations.  

“Ask Pier Giorgio to intercede for wisdom about your calling, for courage to embrace it, and for the holy joy of flourishing in that vocation in the years ahead,” he said.

The Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh, site of the July 25, 2025, arrest of two nuns. / Credit: Rajbhatt, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 4, 2025 / 14:54 pm (CNA).

Two Catholic nuns who were arrested at a train station in central India have been released on bail after spending more than 10 days in prison. 

“The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) has welcomed with relief the grant of bail to Sister Preethi and Sister Vandana by the NIA Court in Bisaspur,” the Indian Catholic bishops wrote in an Aug. 2 statement following the sisters’ release, which they said “has brought a sense of hope to the Christian community across the country.” 

Government Railway Police had arrested Sisters Preeti Mary and Vandana Francis of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate congregation July 25 at the Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh for human trafficking and forced conversion. 

The nuns had been accompanying three young women between the ages of 19 and 22 as well as a young tribal man from Narayanpur to Agra in Uttar Pradesh, where the young women had plans to work.

“We are grateful to the government for the support shown in this case,” CBCI President Archbishop Andrews Thazhath said in the statement, adding: “We hope this marks the beginning of renewed efforts to protect the rights and dignity of all religious minorities in our secular democracy.”

The bishops expressed gratitude to Christians across denominations and all “who stood in solidarity” with the nuns during their imprisonment and called on the government to “take concrete measures to curb the increasing incidents of intimidation against members of religious communities.”

News of their release comes after the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delayed the process, prompting widespread protests across the country. The Indian Catholic bishops’ conference expressed “outrage and deep concern” over the arrests in a statement at the time, revealing that the nuns had been “subjected to harassment, false accusations, and fabricated cases.” 

“They were physically assaulted and the arrest took place despite written consent letters issued by the parents of each woman above 18 years of age,” the bishops said, describing the event as “a grave violation” of the country’s constitution. 

“It is absolutely shocking and sad that the two religious sisters have been illegally detained under false charges of human trafficking and forced conversion,” Sister M. Nirmalini, the president of the women’s wing of the Conference of Religious India, told CNA on July 30. 

“Shockingly, the charges have been made without ascertaining or verifying facts,” said the nun, who belongs to the Apostolic Carmel Congregation. She noted that some congregations have asked members not to wear their habits in public “to avoid harassment.”

Archbishop Eamon Martin. / Credit: Irish Jesuits, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 4, 2025 / 14:23 pm (CNA).

In a moving message, Eamon Martin, primate of Ireland and archbishop of Armagh, commemorated St. John Vianney, the patron saint of all priests and especially parish priests, whose memorial is celebrated Aug. 4.

At the beginning of his message, the prelate recalled his May visit to the tomb of St. John Vianney in the French town of Ars, where the saint served for more than 40 years. The archbishop visited on the occasion of the centenary of the saint’s May 1925 canonization.

Martin recounted that there at Ars he had given thanks to God “for the dedication and quiet commitment of so many good priests throughout Ireland; I remembered my classmates and the priests who inspired my own vocation, and I prayed especially for priests who are sick, struggling, or out of ministry.”

In this regard, he emphasized the importance of praying for priests: “It’s understandable that people are more used to asking priests to pray for them and might not realize how much we priests are ourselves in great need of prayer: that we might be conformed more and more fully to Christ.”

He also recalled that St. John Mary Vianney described the priesthood as “the love of the heart of Jesus” and used to say that “to be a missionary is to let your heart overflow.”

“We priests tend to be caught up in a multitude of demands and distractions,” Martin noted, lamenting that in recent times, like many others, “we have become vulnerable to isolation and loneliness, and sometimes to unhealthy or harmful influences that can steal away the joy of our vocation.”

“And we priests are not the best at accepting when we need help and support or finding guides and mentors to accompany us spiritually, pastorally, intellectually, and especially in our personal human development,” he noted.

He also observed that sometimes it is difficult to find moments of rest and renewal, “and spaces where we can cultivate interior silence, center ourselves on Our Lord Jesus Christ, to hear and understand what is God’s will for us at this particular moment, to renew the joy of our ordination and to pour out gratitude to God for calling us to this wonderful ministry.”

In this context, he emphasized that “one of the greatest challenges we face as priests is to be ‘good news’ for the world.”

Regarding the fragility of the priesthood and the great harm caused by abuse, he said this scourge “has caused immense damage and trauma to the lives of victims and their families, but it has also broken the heart and spirit of many priests, damaged priestly fraternity and credibility, and that precious trust between us and our people.”

He therefore emphasized that, more than ever, “we need to be open to God’s healing love within us, to know that we are loved and understood by God, despite all of our weaknesses and faults. And we need prayers, and intercession, not just as individual priests called by God, but also for the priesthood itself,” he added.

“Our greatest privilege is to be able to celebrate the Eucharist for our people and for ourselves. That is because in this troubled, confused, and often empty and superficial world, people quite simply want us to be men of God, who can point them to the transcendent, and lift up their hearts and minds to the beauty and truth of God,” he noted.

Finally, he clarified that the priesthood is not a job or profession like any other because “it is subsumed into our whole being.”

“Our priesthood is not our own. It is a share in the priesthood of Christ. It is a partaking in the love of the heart of Jesus,” he emphasized.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Rows of bunk beds line the interior of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility in the Florida Everglades, a repurposed training center now designated for holding immigrants. President Donald Trump appears in the background during a July 1, 2025, visit to the site. / Credit: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 4, 2025 / 13:52 pm (CNA).

As part of a new Catholic ministry, the Archdiocese of Miami celebrated its first Mass at the Florida detention center for unauthorized immigrants known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

“I am pleased that our request to provide for the pastoral care of the detainees has been accommodated,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski said in an Aug. 3 statement. “Also, we were able to respond to a request to provide similar service to the staff who reside at the facility.”

In a July interview with “EWTN News In Depth,” Wenski said his “greatest concern” was the “health and care of the people that are being detained” at Alligator Alcatraz. He and other advocates were calling for “a minimum of standards” and said that “one of those standards should be access to pastoral care.”

At the time, Wenski explained his archdiocese was having difficulty arranging Masses and spiritual care for the immigrants being held because the Florida state government and the federal government were “arguing among themselves who is accountable” for the detention center.

After months of discussions between Florida bishops, archdiocesan leadership, and state correctional authorities, an agreement was finally reached. Chaplains and pastoral ministers from the Archdiocese of Miami will have “full access” to the facility to offer liturgical Masses for detainees and staff.

The first Mass was held on Aug. 2 and is just the start of the regular liturgical celebrations expected at the center. The archdiocese reported that it will continue the ministry “following the facility’s guidelines and the pastoral availability of our clergy.”

The archdiocese plans “to have a successful and consistent Catholic presence at Alligator Alcatraz that will depend on effective ordination and coordination.” The goal is to “ensure a stable schedule of sacramental care and pastoral ministry that meets the spiritual needs of both attendees and staff, with the support of clergy and committed lay volunteers.”

“The Church has ‘no borders,’ for we all are members of one human family,” Wenski said. “Our ‘agenda’ was always to announce the ‘good news’ to the poor.”

Pope Leo XIV prays during Mass for more than 1 million young pilgrims at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, in Rome’s outskirts, on Aug. 3, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

CNA Staff, Aug 4, 2025 / 13:22 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of August is for mutual coexistence.

In a video released July 29, the Holy Father asked the faithful to pray “that societies where coexistence seems more difficult might not succumb to the temptation of confrontation for ethnic, political, religious, or ideological reasons.”

According to a press release, this month’s video was made in collaboration with the Jesuit Communications Foundation (JesCom).

In the video, Pope Leo recites a prayer composed specifically for this month’s prayer intention.

Here is Pope Leo’s full prayer:

Jesus, Lord of our history,

Faithful companion and living presence,

You who never tire of coming to meet us,

Here we are, in need of your peace.

We live in times of fear and division.

Sometimes we act as if we were alone,

Building walls that separate us from one another,

Forgetting that we are brothers and sisters.

Send us your Spirit, Lord,

To rekindle within us

The desire to understand one another, to listen,

To live together with respect and compassion.

Give us the courage to seek paths of dialogue,

To respond to conflict with gestures of fraternity,

To open our hearts to others without fear of differences.

Make us builders of bridges,

Able to overcome borders and ideologies,

Able to see others through the eyes of the heart,

Recognizing in every person an inviolable dignity.

Help us create spaces where hope can flourish,

Where diversity is not a threat

But a richness that makes us more human.

Amen.

The video prayer intention is promoted by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which raises awareness of monthly papal prayer intentions.

Young Korean pilgrims gather for Mass during the Jubilee of Youth in the Basilica of San Crisogono in Trastevere offered by Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung on July 31, 2025. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Vatican City, Aug 4, 2025 / 12:05 pm (CNA).

The next World Youth Day, scheduled for Aug. 3–8, 2027, will mark a historic milestone for the Catholic Church: the first time the global gathering of Catholic youth will be held in a non-Christian country, South Korea.

Bishop Paul Kyung-sang Lee, general coordinator of World Youth Day Seoul 2027 and auxiliary bishop of Seoul, emphasized the significance of the event in an interview with CNA during the recent Jubilee of Youth in Rome.

“Korea is the first non-Christian country to host World Youth Day,” Lee said. “At the same time, it’s the only nation that is divided in two. So, the main theme should be peace — peace between religions, peace between two countries.”

“I want to see the young people enjoying the immense love of God,” he added. “So that the next generation won’t send their children to war. … This is my hope.”

South Korea, where approximately 31% of the population is Christian and 51% reports no religious affiliation, has seen a steady growth in conversions to Catholicism. Father Isaac Severo of Seoul’s Myeongdong Cathedral told CNA that about 40 young adults are baptized each month at the cathedral alone.

“They go to the church and they ask, ‘How can I receive the baptism?’” he said.

In 2023, more than 51,000 people in Korea were baptized — 75% of whom were adult converts or people in danger of death.

Catholics make up about 11% of South Korea’s population of 52 million people. More than half of the population lives in Seoul’s metropolitan area, making the city among the largest metropolitan areas in the world.

Pope Leo XIV formally announced the 2027 World Youth Day dates during the closing Mass of the Jubilee of Youth on Aug. 3 in Tor Vergata in Rome in the presence of about 1 million young people.

“After this jubilee, the ‘pilgrimage of hope’ of young people continues and will take us to Asia,” Pope Leo said.

“You, young pilgrims of hope, will be witnesses of this to the ends of the earth! I look forward to seeing you in Seoul: Let us continue to dream together and to hope together.”

The 2027 youth gathering will be the second World Youth Day to take place in Asia. The first was in Manila, Philippines, in 1995, which drew millions. For the Church in Korea, the upcoming event will be a historic moment.

More than 1,000 young Korean Catholics traveled to Rome for the Jubilee of Youth to both participate in and promote the upcoming World Youth Day. Among them was 22-year-old Jiyeon Maeng. “I’m really looking forward to it and looking forward for the people here to come to Korea and enjoy the festival with us,” she said. “We are telling them, ‘Come to Korea, please.’” 

She called it “a big honor” that Pope Leo XIV will travel to Korea in 2027. “It’s a big honor to Korea and a big honor to us all Koreans. And I think many Koreans will be waiting for him.”

The young Korean pilgrims gathered for Mass during the jubilee at the Basilica of San Crisogono in Trastevere, a church with ties to Korea as the titular church of Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung of Seoul, who offered Mass for the pilgrims.

Lee, who preached the homily, encouraged the youth to seek “the small daily graces — the ‘little gifts’ that the Lord offers us” and to “fill your hearts with joy, eliminating sadness.”  

The basilica was so crowded that many young people sat on the floor and in the side aisles. After Mass, Yeom surprised the pilgrims by announcing he had bought ice cream for all of them to enjoy in the sweltering Roman heat.

Stephany Sun, the global communications manager for the Archdiocese of Seoul, explained the Korean delegation’s “Project 1004” — a play on the word “angel” in Korean — to bring 1,004 youth to Rome for the jubilee.

“We wanted them to kind of experience World Youth Day in advance since World Youth Day is not that popular yet in Korea,” she said. “They were very surprised by all of the crowds and the different young people who share the same faith … so I would say they’re having a great time here now.” 

Some pilgrims described deep spiritual encounters during their visit. “My group had a very big experience of the Holy Spirit in the Lateran Basilica,” Father Joseph Sung-jae Lee said.  

Severo echoed that sentiment. “We go to the important basilicas, we go to the holy stairs, the catacombs, and we see that Christ is there for the youth,” he said. “Christ looks for the lost. He’s like the shepherd — the young shepherd. And the young are looking for this joy, for this happiness, for this pleasure in the world. But that’s not the truth. The real thing is that Christ … is everything for us.”

As preparations begin for 2027, Sun had a few tips for young pilgrims planning to make the journey to Seoul: Learn a few phrases in Korean, bring a little fan or umbrella to help with the summer heat, and “train your capacity to eat spicy food!” she said. 

Camp Mystic alumnae and family sing after a memorial service on July 7, 2025, honoring victims of the flash floods in Central Texas over the Fourth of July weekend. / Credit: Amira Abuzeid/CNA

Houston, Texas, Aug 4, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

One month has passed since some of the deadliest and most destructive flooding in the state’s history took at least 136 lives in the Texas Hill Country over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Of the confirmed dead, 108 were in Kerr County, where the worst flooding occurred, and included 36 children, 27 of whom were attending Camp Mystic, a Christian all-girls summer camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River.

After extensive recovery efforts by local, state, federal, and international teams, as well as thousands of volunteers, most of the missing have been recovered or confirmed safe. Two people remained missing as of July 28, according to Kerr County commissioners. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said the county’s “primary goal is closure for the families” whose loved ones are still unaccounted for.

The Church’s response

As cleanup and rebuilding continue one month later, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Antonio Vice President of Programs Lizzy Perales told CNA the nonprofit will continue to help flood victims “as long as it’s needed.”

“It will take years for people to rebuild their lives,” Perales said. 

At the request of San Antonio’s archbishop, Gustavo García-Siller, Catholic Charities was deployed immediately after the flood to assist the parish in Kerrville, Notre Dame Catholic Church. 

Since then, the nonprofit has three staff on site who are providing case management services, coordinating help for victims’ material needs, including emergency and longer-term housing and financial assistance, as well as mental health counseling and legal support. 

Catholic Charities also has a distribution site that has served over 450 people with hygiene items, food, water, cleaning supplies, baby items, and “anything families who have lost everything need,” Perales said.

In the immediate aftermath of the flood, the distribution site also provided aid to first responders in the form of food, electrolytes, tools, gloves, and small equipment.

Catholic Charities is assisting with emergency shelter and temporary lodging through a partnership with home rental company Airbnb. It has also assisted in the cost of several funerals in recent weeks.

Perales told CNA she is grateful for the many donations both Catholic Charities and Notre Dame Church have received in the last month. She said the recovery effort has been an ecumenical affair.

“We have worked with many other great organizations and collaborated with many other churches and faith leaders,” she said. “We all want to be good stewards and not duplicate our efforts.”

She asked for continued prayers for the victims as well as the many volunteers and relief workers.

Record rainfall led to the historic floods

The historic flooding began in the early hours of July 4 after record rainfall, with some areas receiving up to 15 inches. Hunt, a small town in Kerr County located near the headwaters of the Guadalupe River, received 6.5 inches in three hours, leading to the river rising 26 feet in 45 minutes and 33 feet in two hours. 

Though most of the devastation occurred along the Guadalupe, the San Saba, Frio, and Colorado rivers also flooded as the same storm system moved across the area.

The immense volume of water caused the rivers to overflow their banks, tearing homes from their foundations and sweeping away RVs, cabins, cars, and trees. Many awoke to find quickly-rising water in their homes or cabins, and survivors had to act quickly to escape.

Emergency response and warning systems

On July 3, ahead of an expected storm system, state officials held an emergency weather briefing in which they were warned there was a “minor” possibility of flash flooding in Kerr and surrounding counties. Due to the unexpectedly high volume of rainfall, at 1:14 a.m. on July 4, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning that included the towns of Kerrville, Ingram, and Hunt. The warning was escalated to an “emergency” at about 4:20 a.m., but by then, the river had already risen higher than 20 feet in some places. 

The National Weather Service did not issue a flash flood emergency in Kerrville until 5:34 a.m.

Many have criticized delays in emergency alerts and the lack of a flood warning system in the area, known as “Flash Flood Alley,” blaming officials from Camp Mystic leadership, the county, the state, FEMA, all the way up to President Donald Trump. 

In 2016, then-Kerr County commissioner Tom Moser said in a commissioners’ meeting: “I think that this area is one of the highest probability areas for flash floods that exists, OK — probably within, I don’t know, within the nation, but certainly within the state.” 

However, after multiple attempts over several years, Kerr County failed to secure state or FEMA funding for flood warning systems.

Camp Mystic had just passed an inspection by the Texas Department of State Health Services on July 2, which certified that the camp had an emergency and evacuation plan in place for disasters, including flooding. 

Camp Mystic is divided into two sections, and according to the inspection report, had 386 campers and 64 staff members at its Guadalupe River section and 171 campers and 44 staff at the newer, Cypress Lake section. All the victims, 26 girls and one counselor, came from the lower-lying Guadalupe River section.

A power outage around 4 a.m. that morning meant the camp’s public address system did not work, and no campers or counselors received text alerts because cellphones were prohibited while at camp.

Critics said the camp’s owners were irresponsible for continuing to operate the camp, even expanding it in recent years, knowing it was built on a flood plain. FEMA’s 2011 maps designated parts of Camp Mystic as a “Special Flood Hazard Area,” though some buildings were later removed from this designation after appeals by its owners, Tweety Eastland and her husband, Dick Eastland, who perished while rescuing campers during the flood.

Camp Mystic alumnae continue to fiercely defend the camp and the beloved Eastlands. Houston resident Mollie Osborne, who attended the camp as a girl and whose daughter had returned from a four-week session just before the July floods, said she will send her daughter back to the camp if it reopens next summer.

“The Eastlands are like family to us,” Osborne said. “And we trust them implicitly.”